Howard's Rock at Clemson vandalized

Jun. 13, 2013
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Clemson football players surround famed Howard's Rock before a game in 1999. Former Clemson running back Eugene P. Willimon, who died Monday, Aug. 7, 2000, at 88 in Seneca, S.C., started the tradition after placing the rock from Death Valley, Calif., on a pedestal in 1965 instead of throwing in out as instucted by legendary coach Frank Howard. The next season Howard asked players who planned to give maximum effort to rub the rock before running down the hill. / Ken Ruinard, Anderson Independent-Mail via AP

by Michael Burns, USA TODAY Sports

by Michael Burns, USA TODAY Sports

Howard's Rock, the iconic fixture Clemson players rub prior to running down the hill during the football team's entrance into Memorial Stadium, was vandalized on June 2 or June 3, according to a university press release. A portion was broken off its pedestal after the casing built to protect it after previous vandalism in 1992 was broken.

"We take vandalism, especially of such an important part of our history, very seriously," Clemson athletic director Dan Radakovich said, according to the release. "Police are investigating."

The pedestal supporting the rock was not damaged. A new case covers it.

The rock was given to then-Clemson football coach Frank Howard in the early 1960s by a friend who'd traveled to Death Valley, Calif. A recording of Howard recounting his urging for players to give "110 percent" or keep their "filthy hands off my rock" is played before games, still.